Taking the Course
by Bones365
Summary: Daine and Numair have been taking things slow, allowing their new relationship to develop at its own pace. One night, they learn that letting things take their course pays off in the end. Lemons ahead!
1. At it's own pace

**Oh, my goodness, I haven't done this in so long! But I just re-read Realms of the Gods and got inspired… I hope you enjoy! Everything is Tamora Pierce's, I own nothing!**

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"You mean you haven't-"

"Onua!" Daine chided, laughing as she cut her friend off from saying something that would make both of them blush even more than they already were. Onua narrowed her eyes and paused, leaning forward against the pitchfork she'd been using.

"You mean you haven't bedded him yet?" She lowered her voice, pushing the words our in a rush before her young friend could interrupt her again. Daine sighed and set her own pitchfork down, lowering her yes to the fresh hay she'd been spreading. Her breath puffed in front of her face while she pondered how she'd respond. While the stables were certainly warmer than other places around the castle grounds, there was only so much that horse bodies and warming spells could do to stave off the bitter winter's chill.

She sighed again and lifted eyes rimmed in long, dark lashes.

"I told you we were taking things slowly," she said. Onua's face wrinkled into confusion and her mouth quirked up in a small, teasing smile.

"Yes, you said you were moving slowly, Daine," she said, lifting her fork once more to shovel more hay. "I didn't think you meant that you were waiting for the next war to come around before you let him into your bed!"

Dain frowned and stabbed at the hay harder than necessary.

"We're just letting things take their course," she muttered, silently praying that this conversation would finish. She couldn't blame Onua for her curiosity, of course. Ever since their returned from the Divine Realms, their friends had been fascinated by the new developments in Daine and Numair's relationship. Usually they could keep their friends at bay with some vague words about courting or getting to know each other in a new way…But today with the snow falling down and little work to be done, Onua had cornered Daine in the stables and demanded to know details.

"Ah, yes. Like the course of a glacier," Onua chortled. She wiped her forehead and looked over at Daine, whose cheeks were red. Onua shoveled one last forkful of hay into a stall and leaned her pitchfork against the wood. "I'm just teasing, Daine. We all just assumed…"

Daine snapped. She propped her own tool against the stall door and faced her friend, hands on hips. "Yes, I know what you 'all just assumed,' Onua. He's not rushing me into anything, he's not seducing me. He's in love with me. He's the perfect gentleman! All these court gossips have been running around since I was _thirteen_ saying that I could hardly pick up a book with all the 'teaching' he was giving me between the sheets. And now that we've finally gotten together, everyone assumes the same thing! It's not wrong that we're taking things slowly. He's not ravaging me every night, that's not what our relationship is about! If anything-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Onua's eyes widened and she held her hands up. "That's not what I meant."

Daine raised her eyebrows.

"Ok," Onua relented. "Ok, that's part of it. We've known Numair for a long time and we know how he is with women. BUT," she rushed on as Daine opened her mouth to argue. "But. We also see the two of you together. Ever since this started up months ago, we see that it works. You fit together so well, we all assumed that you'd already…" She trailed off, shrugging. Daine sighed.

"I'm sorry. It's just all a bit touchy. We're just starting to get to know each other this way. We're best friends, Onua. The romantic bit just sneaked up on us…well, sneaked up on _me,_ anyways. We've got a long time to do all of that. We're letting things _take their course_ ," she repeated, rubbing her hands together against the cold. Onua nodded.

"But, Daine. It's been months… You're telling me that _nothing_ has happened…?" she asked. Daine's blush suddenly deepened and she began to back out of the stables, stuffing her hands in her coat pockets.

"Well, I didn't say _nothing,_ now did I?" She winked mischievously at her friends and turned on her heel to rush out of the stables, Onua's hearty laughter following after her.

Daine ducked her head deeper into her chest against the cold, rushing as quickly as she dared across the frozen path to the castle. As she walked into her rooms and called for a hot ( _very very hot, if you please_ ) bath to be sent up, she flipped what Onua had said around in her head.

She and Numair _were_ perfectly happy and they _were_ letting things develop at their own pace. But lately…lately Daine had been feeling like something was missing in their physical interactions. Her heart sped up as she slipped out of her thick wool clothes and prepared for her bath, thinking of his long, ink-stained fingers on her skin, sliding up her body, _into_ her body…

Recently, even when he drove her to release with that mind-numbing, merciless friction he could create inside her, she found herself gasping for more, her hips driving into his even harder than before. Each time she'd caught herself wanting more, she'd forced herself to stop. To _let things take their course_ , she thought, laughing bitterly as she sank into the hot tub.

Well, that was getting harder. Even after one or two or _Gods three_ orgasms, she'd had to fight herself from begging him for more. He didn't seem to notice. Mostly because to divert attention from the ache between her legs, she'd started giving him pleasure, instead. She moaned slightly, closing her eyes and remembering the first time several weeks ago when he'd made that sound in the back of his throat and erupted in her hand. She'd almost come right along with him, watching his eyes roll back in his head. She couldn't remember him ever looking so sexy…

Maybe things had taken their course… She thought, sinking even lower in the tub. If she allowed her body what it wanted, she'd have bedded him weeks ago. She was ready, she knew, thinking on it a bit more. She felt a familiar tingling between her thighs as she thought of Numair between them. _Oh, yes_ am I ready. She smiled to herself.


	2. Ready

**Chapter 2, are you ready…? See what I did there… ready…? Ok. Let's go!**

Daine tried to moan, but her breath creaked out with a high-pitched sigh. She threw her head back and her hips writhed against his hand, reaching for more.

Numair had never seen anything so beautiful in his entire life.

The image of her, like this, would be sealed into his brain until the day he died. His erection grew even harder, enough to be nearly painful, but he couldn't have stopped to save his life. His eyes flowed down her body, watching the firelight play across her smooth, creamy skin. Her shirt and breastband were discarded in a pile on the floor, next to the books she'd unceremoniously shoved off of his lap when she'd entered his study a half hour ago.

" _You won't be needing those," she'd said, crawling onto his thighs to replace the tomes on arcane barrier magic he'd been reading._

" _I won't?" He asked, his full lips stretching into a smirk. The slight irritation he'd had at the treatment of his books was immediately forgotten as she inched closer, straddling his body._

" _No, you won't," she replied huskily, bending down to brush her lips across his, smiling when he opened for her quick tongue. It darted into his mouth, making them both sigh, before she pulled back with one last pecking kiss._

" _I think you'll find, magelet, that there's quite a bit to learn from those particular volumes," his lofty, scholarly tone might have fooled anyone listening in (if they could have through all the privacy spells on his rooms), but it was counteracted by his hands gripping her thighs, pulling her closer so that her chest was flush with his._

" _You see if we cross-reference what we know about what used to be the barrier with the…the… earlier notes from the Carth…th…thaki mages pre-….Mmm…" Daine smiled against his rough cheek as he trailed off, moving her hips again on his and feeling him harden beneath her._

" _The pre what, love?" She asked, sliding her lips along his jaw to bite softly on his earlobe._

" _The pre-… hmm?" His voice grew husky and his lips made a trail of their own down her neck, his fingers tugging the top of her shirt down so he could run his tongue along her collarbone. She brought her hands to his face and lifted it so that she could look down into his eyes._

" _You were talking about barrier and the Carthaki mages," she murmured, her voice breathy. Numair grunted and reached up to draw her down again, his lips demanding on hers. After long moments, her hips began to move of their own accord and he drew her lower lip into his mouth, nipping it lightly and making her moan. His hands travelled slowly up the skin of her back…when had he un-tucked her shirt from her breeches…? Her thoughts melted into nothing when he brought his hands up to her nipples, thumbing soft circles around them and driving her to distraction._

And so they'd ended up like this, Numair though hazily. He watched her rise and fall, grinding her hips down onto his rigid length. Shadows flickered across her breasts as her hand reached up to toy with her tight nipple. He bit back a groan. He loved it when she touched herself. One day, he thought, swallowing thickly, one day he'd coax her to please herself while he watched. His eyes dropped to half-mast as images of her ran through his head, writhing on his bed, one hand in her wet pussy, the other circling lazily around her breast just…like…that…

Numair's hips jerked of their own accord when Daine completed the exact action he'd been fantasizing about on her right breast. Soon… he thought, pushing the images to the back of his head and focusing on his actions in the present. Because, for now, he was more than happy to do the touching, himself.

His eyes dropped to her lap where the laces of her breeches had been hastily loosened - he couldn't remember by whom – to allow his hand room to delve into her slick folds. He moved two fingers deeper inside her and reveled in the high-pitched moan she breathed out. She was getting closer, her body moving faster against his hand. In the position they were in – Daine perched on his lap with his hand buried between her legs - his wrist started to cramp, but he pushed the thought down, desperate to see her come.

He leaned in to taste the spot where her pulse was pounding wildly and groaned raggedly when she threaded her fingers through his hair, pulling sharply in return. Her hips pumped faster against his and he pulled his head back to watch. She was close. He moved his index finger inside her, rubbing against the spot he knew drove her crazy.

Her breath caught and her body jerked in his arms. His fingers stilled inside her.

"Again," she whispered. "P-please, Numair… oh _GODS_ …" He moved his fingers over and over, creating a heated friction that she didn't stand a chance against. She tipped her head back again, crying out, and he felt her body tighten around him, finally falling into the pleasure she'd demanded from him.

She looked wild with her smoky hair curling around her bare shoulders. Despite the twinges in his wrist, he held himself in place while he watched her come down from her climax. She let out a long sigh that finished on a groan when he slid his fingers from her.

She straightened to meet his eyes just as he drew the same fingers into his mouth. His cock twitched when a look of pure lust stole over her face.

" _Numair,"_ she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him as he removed his hand from his lips. He almost came right there.

No one said his name the way Daine did. No one had ever looked at him with the complete surrender and _wanting_ that she did. She pulled back and murmured something. It took a moment for his lust-soaked brain to process it.

"More?" He asked, repeating her.

" _More,"_ she whispered against his lips. He finally grasped what she wanted and he chuckled.

" _More?!_ You're insatiable," he laughed against her, ignoring his aching cock and picking her up to walk to his bedroom.

She smiled up at him in triumph as he set her down gently against the pillows. "Only for you." She blushed and his heart suddenly swelled at her simple declaration.

"I love you," he told her. He lay down on top of her, supporting his weight on his left arm while his right hand tickled up her side to cup her breast. She sighed and pulled him down to her lips once more.

Numair groaned against her mouth as she brought her legs up around his waist. The position matched them together perfectly, and he moved his hips against her, knowing she could feel how badly he wanted her. His hand slid down her body, stopping in places to gently tease or tickle until his hand reached her core once more.

She stopped him with a hand on her wrist. He looked down at her in surprise.

"More," she repeated, releasing his wrist to bring her fingers to his breeches, untying the knot there. Numair shook his head and tried to hold onto his train of thought.

"You mean-"

"Mmm," she nodded, answering his unspoken question, and biting her lip when her fingers came into contact with his hard shaft. His face tightened into a grimace of pleasure and he rocked into her hands several times before he could stop himself.

"Daine, you don't mean-"

"I do," she cut him off. His voice had gone gravelly with pleasure and she watched him try and pull himself back together against the onslaught of her playful fingers.

"We can't…" he began to protest when she sat up, forcing him onto his knees in front of her. Her eyes twinkled at him before she lifted his shirt up over his head.

"We can't?" She asked, eyes going round with false, teasing innocence. "Who says we can't?"

He swallowed when she leaned forward to rub her face in the coarse hair of his chest. Her fingers swept down his abdominal muscles, feeling the hard ridges there before resting on the front of his breeches.

"I say we can…" she whispered against his throat. A strangled growl worked its way out of his mouth when her hand moved to grip him through the cloth.

"D…Daine stop…" his hoarse objection was lost in a groan. She was working his pants down his thighs.

"Numair please. I want you," she confided. He looked down into her eyes and saw the aching need there, the wanting, and a small hint of insecurity that he might refuse her. He gripped her shoulders to stop her from undressing him further.

"Are you sure, sweet?" He asked, sitting back on his heels to mirror her position. "We said we would take our time." Daine breathed out a laugh and peeked up at him. Seeing the love and need shining out of his eyes, she knew he would not refuse her. Her lips tipped up into a smile.

"Yes, we decided to take our time," she agreed. "And the time has been taken. And now the time has come for _you_ to take _me."_ Her smile broadened and she looked up at him through her lashes.

Kneeling in front of him, looking at him like that, she was the most seductive thing he'd ever seen. Not even at Tempation Lake had he felt this way, pulled completely under her spell. Her confident smile was guileless, and yet was the most arousing thing he'd ever had the pleasure of seeing. His stomach tightened and his breath grew even shallower. Suddenly, he needed her desperately, more than anything else he'd ever wanted. He felt an overwhelming sense of urgency as he reached for her. He'd waited so long…so long for this. And now she was his. Gods help him, he hope she didn't change her mind.

"You want me to take you, magelet?" The question was asked as a low growl. His hands reached out to urge her up from her kneeling position to lay back on the bed. "Is that what you want?" He whispered, his tongue slipping out to run over the chords in her neck. She whimpered in pleasure.

He quickly rid her of her breeches, her loincloth following after. His hips pressed into hers insistently and she cried out at the feeling.

"Daine, tell me, are you sure you're ready?" He asked, praying she didn't say no. "Once I start I…I don't know I'll be able to stop. I want you so badly… All of you, Daine. Are you ready to give me that?" He told himself to stop grinding against her and let her think for one moment, but his body wouldn't obey. She moved against him urgently.

"I'm already yours, Numair," she sighed. "Please."

His mouth crashed down on hers and they both moaned. Their hands feverishly roamed over skin and muscle, pushing his breeches aside. She cupped the firm cheeks of his backside and ground against him, both moaned at the feeling, _finally_ , of skin on skin.

The wetness between her thighs rubbed mesmerizingly against his cock. He couldn't hold back any longer. Reaching down, he positioned himself against her opening and his eyes nearly rolled back in his head at the feeling.

"Magelet, if this hurts…" he began, trembling with the effort to hold himself still, even while her hips were bucking, trying to draw him into her body. She huffed out an impatient breath. They'd long since had the conversation about what their first time might be, and both had generally agreed that her propensity for horseback riding had likely rid her of any maidenly barrier she once had.

"Then it hurts, love," she said. "Please, Numair. Now. I need you…" She groaned out the last word as he slid into her. Breath catching, she gasped at the feeling of intense pleasure radiating through her. Numair shut his eyes in concentration and his hands clenched in the pillow on either side of her head as he pulled back and pushed back in an inch deeper. Then another, until finally he felt himself slip all the way inside her. He froze, waiting for a breath to see her reaction. She was so tight, felt so small, so…so _perfect_ , he held his breath and willed himself not to move in case he was hurting her.

She cried out and when he would have pulled out, she grabbed him, pulling him deeper inside. His hands clenched again and he couldn't stop his hips from pumping into her several more times before he slowed to a gentler pace.

"Yes!" She keened. "Oh….Oh don't stop, please… Nu-Numair ye-es…" He glanced down at her to see only pleasure play across her face. He growled and buried his head in the crook of her neck, making guttural praises to the Gods as he drove into her with a frantic, pounding rhythm.

Daine felt like she was soaring. Her body tightened and clenched in delicious, unfamiliar places. Her body became accustomed to the rolling of Numair's hips and she hesitantly lifted hers in response. He grunted softly in her ear, and the breathy sound voiced his pleasure more eloquently than any words ever could. The bed shook beneath them, but her pleasure made her fly above the castle. She felt like sparks were racing through her veins, ready for her to take flight.

Numair was drowning. His breath became erratic and he tried several times to hold it, willing his body not to succumb the all-encompassing pleasure that was swamping him. He was harder and wound tighter than he'd ever been. He'd lost control of his body, struggling to hold himself above the sensations and wait for Daine. But, Gods, the way she moved against him. He kept his head in her neck, knowing that if he were to open his eyes and see her beneath him, writhing in pleasure…

His overly active mind happily supplied the image for him and he groaned, picturing her. Unable to control himself, he hooked his arm low around her back, arching her body into his and sinking into her completely. They both cried out at the new feelings rushing between them.

"Daine, sweet….I'm going… Oh, I need to…" And suddenly, miracle of miracles, she was with him. A sharp cry flew from her lips and she contracted around him. Finally, Numair surrendered, allowing the waves of pleasure to break over him as he held her so tightly she might bruise.

For several moments, they lay together, panting, still connected. Daine's hip twitched in a small aftershock and Numair growled, his body clenching on top of her.

"I'm sorry, love. Did I hurt you?"

Her hand slid up to cup his stubbled jaw, fingers reveling in the feel of his skin, in the new intimacy they shared. He laughed brokenly and rolled off of her.

"You've stolen my line, magelet," he told her, scooping her body into his. She snuggled into him, happy to stay close and warm.

"Well, you didn't hurt me," she told him, her eyes closing heavily. Her fingers continued to move across his chest, shoulders, back, neck… she was unable to take her hands away from him.

He kissed her nose softly.

"You didn't hurt me, love," he said. "You obliterated me. I…" He sighed contentedly. "You're perfect." He finished, ducking his head to capture her lips with his, feeling her smile against him.

"I'm not, but if it pleases you to think so…" she grinned into his cheek. For long moments they lay together, breathing the same air while fingers lazily explored all the places they'd just explored moments ago, softer now.

"So," Daine said, "that's canoodling."

Numair let out a surprised laugh, squeezing her beloved body closer to his.

"Oh, my love. That was so, _so_ much more than canoodling," He whispered into her hair, still chuckling. She let out an overly dramatic, long-suffering sigh.

"Oh, dear. I was ready for a proper canoodling," she sighed again even as his laughter rose once more.

"A proper canoodling?" He asked, still chuckling. She nodded and settled in closer against him.

"Yes, a proper one…" her voice broke off on a yawn. Numair smoothed his hand through her thick curls and kissed her forehead.

"Well, I shall endeavor to provide you with the proper canoodling, sweet. Tomorrow," he smiled into her hair and with his rough hands making soft patterns on her back, they both drifted to sleep.


End file.
